Fabrication and Performance Analysis of Water Vortex Power Plant

Gravitation water vortex power plants offer a new way of making use of the hydropower potential of smaller waterways without causing damage to river environment and aquatic life. Basically, when an existing weir is replaced by a gravitation water vortex power plant that has no weir, that section of the river is also renatured and revitalized, restoring continuity for fish and other river creatures. Gravitation water vortex power plants are small and robust river power plants. They require a minimum water level of 0.7 meters and a minimum water flow of about 1,000 liters per second. The technology used in gravitation water vortex power plants also called water vortex power plants is completely different from that of conventional small hydropower plants with their ponds and turbines. A water vortex plant consists of a circular tank or basin with a central drain. A symmetrical vortex automatically forms above the drain, as it does when we drain water from a bathtub. The vortex drives a vertically placed rotor turbine. This rotor powers a generator that produces electricity and then transmits it to the power grid. There is no backflow or any increase in water pressure, allowing fish to easily swim upstream and downstream through the power plant. The main aim is to generate clean power using Gravitational vortex model by developing a stable system which consists of vortex basin, channel and other components. This system is tested by varying different parameters like input head, input flow rate, depth of the vortex, turbine blades, orifice diameter and the readings are noted down. These readings are used to calculate power, torque and output flow rates and these calculations are used to study the different variations in power and to note down the maximum value of power achieved by varying the above parameters.